Safety Net
by KaioM
Summary: Hyuuga Hinata doesn't believe in things like fate, but she does believe in luck. Sometimes you get lucky, and you're in a nice big clan with a family that loves you and no seal on your forehead that could kill you at the whim of weak cowards. And, sometimes, you don't. Sometimes you're a Branch House orphan with said seal. AU: Hiashi wasn't born first and Hinata is a Branch member.


Author's note: Here I am again, with another AU story. This was inspired partly by the story 'Just a Couple Minutes', but this centers around my very OOC Hinata. I guess I shouldn't say that, since Hinata will still share some characteristics of Canon!Hinata, but yeah. Nobody will be directly bashed, but this is an AU. If you'd like me to continue this, please review, but if you think this is crap on a stick, please review. Thank you!

Now, without further ado, I present…

**SAFETY NET  
**By: KaioM

_Hyuuga Hinata doesn't believe in fate, but she does believe in luck. Sometimes you get lucky, and you're in a nice big clan with a nice big family that loves you and you don't have a seal on your forehead that could kill you at the whim of weak cowards. And, sometimes, you don't. Sometimes you're a Branch House orphan and the cards just aren't really rolling in your favor. An AU centered around Hyuuga Hinata, when her father wasn't clan head._

_**Prologue-Just a Couple Seconds**_

_come on, baby. don't_

**F**_**E**__A_**R** T_**H**__E __**R**_E_A__**P**_E**R**

In one reality, there is a girl. She grew up meek but ended up strong and the Hyuuga clan is all the better for it. She's not married, and she doubts that she ever will be, but she has a loving family. Her cousin, her sister, her father; the entire Hyuuga clan, really. There isn't anyone left in the clan who has any type of seal inked across their foreheads, so even if sometimes she thinks about what could have been, the girl is beyond happy. She is clan head, the Hyuuga are thriving, and life is good.

She knows how good she has it, and she is thankful. Thankful to whatever deity had her born into the Main House of the Hyuuga clan, thankful that by some chance of fate her father was born only a couple seconds before his twin, thankful that she managed to gain the support necessary to step up and change her clan forever.

But such a life isn't nearly as likely as she always thought.

Because in another reality, there is another girl. She grew up worthless but ended up vicious, and the Hyuuga clan will never be the same because of it. She has love, and she clings to it. Her entire damn clan meant next to nothing to her; it wasn't like she had any family in it, anyway. There isn't anyone, not even one person, left in the clan with any type of seal scribbled anywhere on their bodies because the Hyuuga clan is _dead_ and_ gone_. She would never have been clan head anyway, punished for things out of her control, and she smiles while watching the Hyuuga clan fall apart like wet paper.

She thinks it justice, and no matter what she was forced to do in order to reach this nasty, dirty goal, she will never feel even a little remorse for the righteous crimes she committed. The clan deserved it. They deserved to know this pain. Every time her _family_ mocked her, laughed at her, treated her like dirt? She returned it tenfold and she knows they had it coming.

She knows what her life is, but she doesn't curse it, nor does she regret her choices. Whatever deity decided she wasn't worthy to be born into the Main House of the Hyuuga clan and forced her father out of the womb only mere moments after his twin, whoever thought they had her trapped in a place that meant the Hyuuga would never be capable of change...

She doesn't believe in fate, or god. But if they are out there, and they have been sabotaging her from the start, she doesn't care; the Hyuuga clan is gone and she has won. She has no need for honor. She doesn't even see what she's done as revenge.

They are both Hyuuga Hinata, but they grew up in very different circumstances. Hyuuga Hinata, daughter of Hyuuga Hiashi.

Only here, Hiashi was born after his brother; he's always been the inferior one, and he knows it. Hizashi is clan head, Neji is next in line, and Hinata is nothing. Her parents are dead, she has no siblings, and there is no hope of ever rising through the ranks.

Hinata was born with nothing laid out for her. There was no one there, helping her along the way. There was nothing shiny lying around, waiting for her to pick it up. There were no guidelines.

That kind of life was always reserved for her cousin.

Things never came easy to Hyuuga Hinata, and that was only the natural order of things. The Main House never needs to deal with being completely worthless with no hope of change within the clan, but the Branch House does. That's the way of the Hyuuga dynamic.

Every time she her seal is activated, the weeks she's forced to dig through garbage cans for food, whenever someone walks by and wrinkles their nose, then says, cold and dismissive, "Worthless.

Every single time, Hinata thinks back. No matter how the Hyuuga clan changes, she can promise them one thing.

The Hyuuga clan will _burn_ and Hinata will be right there, lighting the match and pouring the gasoline. That's a promise.

Hyuuga Hinata never goes back on her word.

This is a girl who has been wrapping bandages around her forehead since her third birthday, who grew out long, choppy, dark blue bangs to hide the shame of her birth, who was expected to amount to absolutely _nothing_.

This is Hyuuga Hinata.

Strange how much just a couple seconds can change, isn't it?


End file.
